The Metal Trilogy Book 1: Resurrection
by Dezerango
Summary: A story of Metal Sonic and his final attempt to finally outdo Sonic the Hedgehog. THIS IS MY FIRST FANFIC. This story is broken into three parts. Hopefully, you can guess what happens in this part by the tittle. Criticism appreciated. I'M BACK WITH CH 10!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:I don't own Sonic,Sonic characters, ect. I DO own any characters I make though, so no stealing without permission okay?

This is my first fanfic so please R&R

It all started innocently enough.

"Hey Knuckles, you said you were the last echidna right?" Sonic asked this question on his back from the floor of Tails's workshop. The smell of oil and the grinding sounds of metal dominated the senses. Tails at that time, was tuning up the engine of the Tornado after their international adventure that ended with the defeat of Dark Gaia almost a month ago. Knuckles had dropped by for no particular reason and the three had been idly chatting when a thought crossed Sonic's mind.

"Yeah Sonic, I am the last echidna. Haven't I made it painfully clear?" Knuckles leaned against a wall near the doorway. The echidna had been abnormally lax in his guarding of the Master Emerald as of late. Although it worried him from time to time, it was nice having Knuckles around and not staring into nothingness atop the Master Emerald. Sonic found it strange that now he could bring up this question he could bring up this question that has been nagging him ever since the issues surrounding Chaos. Every other time he had seen his red friend there was a world to save and they didn't have time for things like this.

"Yeah know you have. But I just wanted to know if Tikal counts." Sonic stood up and strolled over to Knuckles, who had a puzzled look on his face. Tails's ears perked up, but other than that he seemed oblivious to the conversation around him.

"T-Tikal? She's, like, umm…Tails help me out here. Tikal can't count right?"

"I'm not so sure of that," Tails stopped working and pulled his protective goggles onto his forehead. He hopped from his workbench and walked over to Sonic and Knuckles. "I believe that Tikal is a spirit, bound to the Master Emerald, but since she never really died there is some grey area.

"Oh…I see…" Knuckles withdrew into the wall a little. Sonic picked up on his emotions and struck immediately.

"Well well well, seems like our little echidna wanted a real echidna to hang out with. Someone to talk to, play with, to hold…"  
"Sonic…" Tails began with a little shock at what appeared to be Sonic poking fun at the destruction of Knuckles's clan. But both Sonic and Knuckles knew what Sonic was REALLY talking about.

"Sonic," There was a clear note of irritation in his voice. "You weren't just suggesting that I wanted Tikal to be alive...no flesh and blood for the reason I think you're thinking…"

"Only if you thought that I thought you'd just love to be the father of the next echidna. I saw how you looked at Tikal all that time ago." Sonic smiled now. He'd known the joke had the potential to explode and luckily for him Knuckles had the right mindset.

"Sonic, what way did I look at Tikal again? Refresh my memory," Knuckles started to approach Sonic with a smile, flexing his hands as he went.

"Well, I remember Mr. Lone Wolf practically drooling over her. You were staring so hard, I'm surprised she didn't feel your eyes feeling her up." Sonic smiled. He hadn't fought Knuckles in too long.

"Oh really! I remember a certain hedgehog showing off a little when he was supposed to be saving the world. I wonder if he was trying to get some extra attention from a certain pink hedgehog…"

"Ooo, are you trying to start something?" Sonic hopped from foot to foot and his spines tingled in anticipation.

"Maybe I am, maybe…"

"Hey hold up on the fighting for a second. Something just hit me." Tails stood between Knuckles and Sonic. He stared intensely at Knuckles. "Knuckles, if I said I may be able to make Tikal the second echidna, do you think she may agree. And would you be okay with that?"

Knuckles met Tails's gaze and in a steady voice said, "Any Pachacamac, semi-dead or otherwise, would do anything to restore their clan."

Sonic, his interests peaked, said "Tails, how exactly do you plan to make this happen."

Tails walked over to his workbench and fumbled around in a cabinet until he pulled out a wrinkled and yellowing stack of papers. He brought them over and spread them out so Sonic and Knuckles could see them. They seemed like some sort of blueprint.

"These are blue prints for various Eggman machines I've managed to collect over the years. After an exhausting amount of research, I think that I could integrate some concepts from the E-100 series and the Artificial Chaos to create something of a new body for Tikal. It would be watery like Chaos's body, but other than that it would essentially be a fully functioning body." Sonic, Tails and Knuckles stared at the blueprints for a moment.

"Tails, how are you going to get a soul into a body?" Knuckles said. He had a look of hope, fear, and excitement.

"That's the only flaw in the design. We would have to find a living creature that would allow Tikal's spirit to take over its body. Personally, I would suggest a small bird, like a Flicky, in case Tikal needed to escape her new body quickly." Tails pondered silently for a moment and then said, "And we'll find one in Eggman's lab. I'm sure there are essentially dead animals being forced to live soulless lives due to Eggman's experimenting. It would be a favor to the soul tied to the body to be freed by a spirit as kind as Tikal's."

"So, what do we do?" Sonic inquired. He smelled an Adventure coming on.

"I'll stay here and prepare Tikal's new body. Sonic, I need you to infiltrate Eggman's lab and find a failed E-100 series. Bring it here ASAP. Knuckles, you have to talk Tikal into this."

"I can't believe this is happening. A second echidna…" Knuckles stared out of the solitary window in Tails's workshop.

"Well it is! Come on team, let's make this happen nice and smooth." Sonic extended his hand out towards Tails and Knuckles.

"Somehow, I don't think it will be all smooth…" Tails said, placing his hand on top of Sonic's.

"Read my mind," Knuckles placed his hand atop Tails's.

"We can handle this easy. It's not like Eggman is gonna make any real trouble! Come on, Sonic Team on three!" Sonic smiled and looked at Tails.

"You got it Sonic! ONE!" Tails looked at Knuckles.

"This better work. TWO!" Knuckles looked Sonic in the eye.

"It will. THREE!" Sonic sucked in a deep breath.

"SONIC TEAM!" All three shouted.


	2. Chapter 2

YAY second chapter! I didn't get any reviews for the first one, but not all that much happened, so I'll take it as 'We looked, but we have nothing to say yet.' Works for me. Anyway, here is chapter two, where the action (a little) begins.

It wasn't really anyone's fault. It would have happened eventually.

Sonic blazed through Green Hill Zone, enjoying the wind flowing through his spines. The soft grass, green trees, and friendly animals all reminded him of his more youthful days. Not to say that he was old or anything, just that he hadn't really just run here for fun since he was ten or so. That was five years ago.

"Hey Knuckles, you are the last echidna right?"Sonic asked, talking through the headset Tails had given him before he left for Eggman's lab. At the moment, all three of them were connected.

"Yes…I am Sonic…so what?" Knuckles had been a quiet ever since they left Tails's workshop.

"Well, does that mean you're, like, a thousand years old?" Sonic crouched into a ball while running full speed and jetted through a small tunnel he had discovered a few years ago. At the end lie a spring pad Sonic planned to use to get to Eggman's lab.

"Huh…maybe," Knuckles said in a joking manner. Sonic could just imagine Knuckles rolling his eyes at such a dumb joke. Yes, Sonic could lift a heavy mood off of someone well. "Why don't you dwell on that a while. I've just arrived at Angel Island."

"Good luck Knuckles." Tails murmured, absorbed in his work.

"Yeah, good luck. After this we can go to a café' in Station Square. Most of them have senior discounts." Knuckles ended contact.

***

Knuckles landed on Angel Island with his usual two footed landing. The air on Angel Island shifted wildly, but not strongly, through his tight long dreadlocks. Even Knuckles himself, having lived on the floating island as long as he could remember, still never got why the wind was the way it was. Just another anomaly caused by the Master Emerald.

Knuckles walked slowly up the twenty meter tall staircase that led to the shrine of the Master Emerald. As he ascended, Knuckles slowly felt his worry, his tenseness, his anxiety all flow out of him. Some of it was just relief that he dwelled once more in the presence of the Master Emerald, but more was knowing Tikal was there too. Unbeknownst to anyone else, beside Chaos of course, this wouldn't be the first time Knuckles saw Tikal since Perfect Chaos tore Station Square apart. Knuckles had been visiting her ever since actually. As guardian, Knuckles knew how to communicate with the Master Emerald. Asking it to let him inside was a strange request, to say the least, but must have been a valid one at some point in time because there were prayers for just that on a tablet he'd found while searching for a way to speak with Tikal. It was a simple prayer; he'd managed to memorize it in minutes.

Knuckles let his eyes rest on the Master Emerald, in all of its green, mysterious glory, before gathering up the seven Chaos Emeralds that stood on the seven pillars around the Master Emerald. Knuckles, after a time, had started bringing Chaos Emeralds into the Master Emerald for Chaos. Although he truly was a god of destruction when angered, Chaos was quite gentle in the Master Emerald around his fellow Chao. Knuckles had thought up the idea himself, after remembering a fight he had with Chaos. The first time, he'd brought two Chaos Emeralds. The Chao immediately noticed when Chaos grew upon contact with the Emeralds, but were not afraid. In fact, they seemed to know exactly what game they wanted to play with Chaos: Ride in the big Chaos ball. Ever since then, once a week, Knuckles would bring a random number of Emeralds in so the Chao could play. Chaos seemed to enjoy it as well, and Tikal, seeing Chaos and the Chao happy, was ecstatic. Knuckles had never tried letting Chaos go Perfect, but today was a special occasion so everyone would get something new.

Knuckles stored the multicolored jewels in a pack hidden near the red Chaos Emerald's pillar and pulled the pack's strap over his shoulder. It was a little heavy, but he'd survive. Knuckles leapt from behind the pillar to the pedestal of the Master Emerald in one excited movement. This was it.

Knuckles took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He placed his palms on the surface of the Master Emerald and let his eyes almost close completely.

"Oh Master Emerald, hear my call," Knuckles said in a slow, practiced monotone. "Allow me entrance into your endless caverns, for I seek solace from the evils of this world. Give me safety in these times of danger. Give me acceptance as I wallow in dejection. Please Great Emerald_, permissum mihi intus!*_"

Knuckles felt the usual sensation of warmth slowly enveloping his entire body, and then it all disappearing at once. Then, a crushing feeling attacked his chest. It got tighter, tighter and then it was gone. Knuckles opened his eyes. He was back in the Emerald Paradise.

The Emerald Paradise was a foggy place. The fog however was warm and gave a feeling that it hid not hidden dangers, but wrapped a gift you only needed to reach out to touch. Ancient plants, long extinct in the world outside, flourished here. Knuckles walked slowly on the wet, ivory stone that covered all of the ground underfoot. Knuckles never appeared in the same place twice, but he always found Tikal. He picked up his pace when he heard a shuffling up ahead, then went into a full on run when he was sure he'd heard a Chao laughing. Knuckles burst through a final, enormous bush and tripped over Spatori, an unusually strong Chao. Knuckles flew over the rock-like Chao and landed in a nearby pool.

Knuckles sat up, shook himself, and opened his eyes.

He saw nothing but black.

"Wha-What?! I c-can't see! What kind of water is this! I knew the Paradise had some traps but-" Suddenly, the darkness lifted and Knuckles could see Tikal's face in full. She really was beautiful, with her neat, tightly done dreads and her nice clear violet eyes. Her voice was like a siren's and Knuckles knew if he'd ever been an ancient sailor and Tikal a real siren, he'd be rotting at the sea floor by now.

"Don't worry, it was just a bit of plant," Tikal giggled as she waved the wet leaf in Knuckles's field of vision. She flicked the leaf back into the pool water and extended a hand out to Knuckles. He accepted it.

"You're early," Tikal said, spinning around. She let out a whistle and stopped, facing Knuckles once again. "What's the occasion?"

"This," Knuckles replied, throwing his pack to Chaos, arriving on Tikal's whistle. Like always, Chaos absorbed the whole of the pack and a bright light erupted from his body. But this time, bewildering Tikal, all which stood after the light faded was the pack.

"Exac-"

"Shh." Knuckles pointed skywards. Tikal looked up and saw a single point of Chaos like material floating in the air. It expanded, letting the Chaos Emeralds fall from wherever they had been hidden in the mass. Knuckles and Tikal caught the emeralds as they fell and replaced them back in Knuckles's pack.

"You didn't" anticipation resounded clearly in Tikal's voice. Knuckles nodded. Chaos material started to flood the Emerald Paradise. Tikal gripped Knuckles's arm and giggled like a young girl. This would be a first for both of them.

***

Sonic, now at the spring pad, looked up at his target. It had moved a little since last month, but still in bouncing range. Since the Egg Carrier had seen so many destructions, Eggman now used the old Flying Battery as his base of command. Sonic positioned himself so the spring pad was between him and the flying battery, backed up, got a running start, and stomped hard on the spring. After a split second of compression, the spring launched Sonic into the air at breakneck speeds. Sonic let himself enjoy the flight for a moment, then curled into a tight ball and hit the side of the Battery. The thick plate gave and Sonic was in.

"Sonic to Tails, I'm in," Sonic said into his headset. Sonic began to walk through whatever hall leading to who knows where.

"Kind of guessed you were. You never turned the headset off. I heard your entry." Tails murmured something to himself before saying, "According to my map, you're pretty close to the robotics lab. Just go up and down the corridors to your left and-"Tails heard the pounding of feet, then tearing metal. "Or go through the walls. Either or."

Sonic stopped himself after about six walls and saw a massive lab all around him. Unlike Tails's workshop, everything was the most advanced, totally up to date tech around. Thanks to that, it didn't take Sonic long to find a door marked "Failures". The rusting door was only held by one hinge and was slightly ajar. Sonic walked in.

"Tails, I'm worried. I haven't seen a single Guardbot or heard an alarm." Sonic said as he worked his way through heaps of rusting machines. The inside of the Failures room was dark, damp, and Sonic swore that a rat or something must be scurrying around. As sonic worked his way in, he started seeing things he recognized. "Hey, guess what I found Tails!"

"What?" Tails asked with little interest.

"E-122 _Pi_. I swear it looks just like E-102 _Gamma_." Sonic remembered why he was here and said, "Tails, you don't think…" Sonic tugged on the head until it popped off. Inside the robot, lay a dead Flickly. Sonic took it into his hands and felt for a pulse. He found one, but the Flicky wasn't breathing. At one time, it may have been a beautiful little bird, but now its feathers were matted with dirt and…blood. Sonic felt tears coming to his eyes and could just see Eggman snatching this poor bird from its home, perverting it, and then just leaving it to suffer. It wasn't right…

"Sonic…" Tails asked before he heard clanging metal and Sonic's frustrated scream.

"Dammit Eggman, what the hell did you do to it?" Sonic yelled as he tenderly held the half-dead creature. He felt he could even hear its heart.

"Sonic, I know you're mad but remember we're here to help out Knuckles not punish Eggman."

"Aww, and I felt so special too!" Sonic and Tails both gasped and said in unison "Eggman?"

"Yes it's me." The overweight scientist said through what Tails had thought was a secure channel. "And don't worry, my small animal abuse goes far beyond Flickies." From under Sonic's feet a hover-enabled screen zipped into Sonic's vision. It showed Eggman's face, in all its horrible glory. A toothy grin adorned his face and he let a laugh escape his lips. "I have another small animal you may care about." The camera zoomed out and along with Eggman's plump body Sonic could see him tug on something off screen. After a moment, he pulled hard and brought Cream into full view, holding her by the ears. She had obviously been crying, and there were burns and rips on her little orange dress. Eggman tossed Cream off screen without a word and chuckled.

"Oh my god, what did you do?" Sonic asked enraged. Eggman laughed even harder.

"You can ask her yourself, that is, if you can catch me. Besides, you should be more worried about the situation on Angel Island. Ta ta Sonic." The screen fell and went blank. Sonic felt an explosion somewhere in the ship. Then came the fall.

"Sonic, the Chaos Emeralds are still on Angel Island!" Tails said franticly. Sonic was about to reply when he heard a crash on Tails's end. He only heard the fragment "Mecha Knu-" before the headset cut off.

Sonic blinked and thought. _Tails can't stop a good quality robot on his own…_ Then he recalled Cream's tortured look and Eggman's vague threat.

_Shit._

*Latin for "let me within"

Note-Flickies are small birds. Remember those things that popped out of the enemies in the old Sonic games?

Woot! Much better. Just so you know, a lot of inspiration for this fic came from Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles, so some things you may not get unless you play the games. R&R see yall next time.


	3. Chapter 3

Yay chapter 3. Omigod I got a review! I feel so special! Still don't own Sonic and them. No OC thieves though. Ask first if you REALLY need my OC, but I doubt anyone would want to steal a broken robot…

It was a life or death decision. It saved a life then, even if it ended more later.

Knuckles never would have said a few years ago that he'd ever, _ever,_ enjoy Perfect Chaos. It turned out that the Emerald Paradise could change shape, and it had for the event. It really was strange, watching Chao swim, fly, dance, and play around a twenty-story behemoth that could easily blow them away in the blink of an eye. Even stranger was the fact that the behemoth was laughing along with the Chao. It was not a pretty laugh, sort of like listening to an old man coughing something up, but it was laughter. And Tikal, of course, just loved it. Tikal hopped around the edge of a small island that had sprung up under them when Chaos began flooding the Paradise. Knuckles simply laid back and watched the Chao.

Tikal turned suddenly from her hyperactive watch and exclaimed, "Knuckles, let's go swimming!" Knuckles pulled himself into a sitting position and said, "Sure, but listen Tikal can I talk to you for a sec?" Tikal instantly caught the sober tone in his voice. She strolled over to him and asked, "What's up?" She sat beside him, facing Chaos and the Chao. They sat there in silence.

"Tikal," Knuckles said, breaking the silence, "Have you ever wanted to be out there, you know, in the real world?"

Tikal sighed. "Yes, sometimes. But I have all I need here. Chaos, the Chao, you, they're all right here." Tikal looked into Knuckles's eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just thought you'd like to see the outside again. See Sonic and Tails, maybe even Amy, and do the sort of things you can't in here." Knuckles replied.

"Well I'm sure it would be nice, seeing everyone and using up my remaining life force, seeing new places, becoming a mother…"

"What was that about remaining life force?" Knuckles inquired.

"My life force. That which gives life to the living. When I brought myself and Chaos into the Master Emerald, the power of the Emerald took the place of my life force, freezing me in time. I used a little up when the Master Emerald was broken up, and I could use some more if I wanted to resume my life. The Master Emerald could grant me a new body and I could resume my life as if not a moment passed. But really, I think I'm too afraid to stay out there. What if the Master Emerald broke again while I was away or someone did something to the Chao? I just feel better staying here, where I can protect them."

About halfway through Tikal's little speech, Knuckles mentally thanked the gods that he hadn't come right out and said, 'Tikal, Tails is gonna make you a new body! Come hang with us!' Knuckles had no idea that the Master Emerald had such power. Knuckles decided that he would just scrap Tails's little plan. He'd have some fun with Tikal, go back to Tails's workshop, and tell the guys Tikal wasn't interested. HE was sure Sonic wouldn't mind randomly attacking Eggman's base for nothing. It wasn't like the doctor didn't deserve some random judgment. And maybe someday later on, Tikal would decide for herself that she wanted to get out of the Emerald Paradise. And all would be well.

_Yeah right._

"Let's go for that swim," Knuckles said, a newfound ease in his voice. He stood up and started walking to the island's edge. He looked over his shoulder to Tikal. "You coming?"

Tikal stared towards the ground and twiddled her thumbs. "Well, umm, I don't have a swimsuit. I do happen to know that now, unlike my times, swimming without clothing isn't something you just…do" Her face had turned a soft pink color.

Knuckles chuckled and said, "Come on just swim with your clothes then. I am." Tikal rubbed her nose then whispered, "Okay…" She walked to Knuckles and together they walked to the edge of their little island.

"On three," Knuckles told Tikal, grabbing her limp right hand. "We jump okay? One…"

Tikal's face was cherry red.

"Two…"

Knuckles noticed a small ripple in the air. The Chao and Chaos were silent.

"Three." Right before they jumped, an incredible screeching sound tore through the air. Both Tikal and Knuckles stumbled backward with shock. Saying it was loud would be a major understatement: listening to a rocket ship take off while you stood right next to the engines would sound like perfect silence next to whatever this was. The sound brought Knuckles to his knees instantly. He covered his ears, but it didn't help at all. Tikal was taking it even worse. She was bawling on the ground, and whenever her eyes did open for a second, a profound fear lie in her eyes. Then, just as suddenly as it began, a few seconds later it stopped.

Knuckles slowly uncovered his ears and stood. After a moment, his hearing returned and he could hear Tikal's now soft crying.

"T-T-Tikal, what was that?" Knuckles's voice sounded small, barely more than a whisper. Tikal cried a little long than looked at Knuckles.

"It's-It's happening again," Tikal mutter between sniffles.

"What? What's happening?" Knuckles asked, a little worried.

"The Master Emerald…" Tikal started to cry again, but stopped just long enough to say, "It's being broken."

Knuckles's feelings at that moment were an incredible mix of sadness, anger, self-doubt, and fear. The fear however trumped all. There had to be some reason this was making Tikal cry so much.

Then, as Knuckles looked to check on Chaos and the Chao, the horizon split in half. The rip revealed nothing but a complete darkness. The screech returned, although quieter, accompanied by a pull that tugged him towards the rip in the horizon. Knuckles tried to resist, but found the tug firm, if slow. He looked to Tikal and found her curled up in a ball, slowly being dragged through the dirt. Knuckles decided not to just sit tight and worry about what was going to happen. If he couldn't prevent the pull, he'd face whatever was at the other end head on. Knuckles ran along the path he felt himself being pulled on. When he reached the island's edge he jumped, sticking his arms in front of him and straightening his legs. He caught the wind and glided right into the rip.

Knuckles entered the perfect darkness. He glided for a long time, going until his arms finally tired. He stopped and found the ground was right under him. Knuckles took just one step forward and felt an enormous electrical shock jolt his body. Then, he felt pain. Pain that shouldn't exist, the type of pain you wouldn't wish on your greatest foe. It was physical, mental and emotional pain all at once. Knuckles couldn't even think of how much pain he was in. It encompassed his whole being. And then, it was all gone. Knuckles could feel grass on his cheek and tears on his face. Without knowing it, he had cried.

Knuckles opened his eyes and stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes. Tikal was next to him, but he took no notice. Floating a few feet above the ground in Robotnik's signature hovercraft, sat EggRobo. The mechanical Robotnik stared mindlessly forward, until he noticed Knuckles's slow movements to get into striking distance. EggRobo ascended out on Knuckles's reach, and then began to speak.

"*bzzt* Knuckles, I have broken the Master Emerald. Please stand down and allow me to capture you in return for the reconstruction of the emerald."

_You've got to be kidding me! Does Eggman think this is gonna work?_ Knuckles thought. "How about not you glorified blender!" Knuckles shouted at the machine.

"Fine, *bzzt* have it your way. Activating process 2739-263" EggRobo opened a hatch at the bottom of the hovercraft. "If I drop a certain device, it will cause Chaos to become irritated. Do you wish to risk that?"

Knuckles looked around. Tikal was standing now, also searching for Chaos. He was nowhere to be found. "Nice try EggRobo, but next time make sure Chaos is actually here before making threats like that." Knuckles charged to a tree, ran up its trunk, and pushed off towards EggRobo. The robot dodged and began to head away at high speed. Knuckles gave chase, but had to stop when he came to the edge of Angel Island, now beginning to fall once more.

EggRobo, a good deal away from Knuckles, pressed a button on the hovercraft. A blue and red sphere fell from the hatch and plummeted down. Knuckles followed the path of the device with his eyes, until his eyes fell far enough to see Perfect Chaos, who appeared to be looking for someone.

_FUUUUCK!_

Knuckles ran to the edge of Angel Island and jumped, angling himself at the device. He pulled his body as straight and long as he could. He watched the device fall faster and faster, and it felt like he wouldn't make it. He stretched out an arm, his fingers just centimeters away from the device. He willed himself to fall faster, sweat forming on his face. Just two or three meters away from the surface of Chaos, Knuckles grabbed the device and pulled it into his chest. He rolled midair onto his back and fell hard into Chaos. Chaos brought Knuckles's fall to a halt almost instantly. Knuckles sighed a sigh of relief, and then began to swim to the surface. Knuckles felt the device shake. When he brought it into his view, it opened and let a blue-green power out into Chaos.

Knuckles reached the surface and whipped his head in Chaos's direction. He seemed normal, now a little more at ease now that he could see Knuckles. Then, the look in his eye changed. It was more beastly, angrier, most chaotic. Like the first time Knuckles saw the eyes of Perfect Chaos.

***

Sonic had no idea what to do. He hadn't even left the falling end of the Flying Battery yet. He couldn't just bust through like he usually would; it might kill the Flicky while he left. And there was no way he'd let the Flicky fall to his death. Sonic was trying to figure out just how to escape when Knuckles connected.

"Sonic! I need your help. Perfect Chaos is out and on a rampage!" Knuckles shouted. He could hear Knuckles grunting from an unknown effort.

"How…"

"No time to explain. I'm gonna try to slow him down. Tikal has the Chaos Emeralds. She'll be near Angel Island. Turn into Super Sonic and stop his crazy ass. By the way Angel Island fell."

"Wait Knuckles. Tails needs help fast! Go help him."

"Can do. Knuckles out." Knuckles killed communication. Sonic nearly punched himself. Sure, Knuckles would probably kill himself going after Perfect Chaos, but why'd he tell him to help Tails? He should have told him to save Cream! God, Tails…nah that was good. Tails couldn't handle himself well. But now Sonic had to choose: Save Cream or save Station Square, since Chaos was most likely going there. Well first he had to get the heck out of here.

Sonic placed the Flicky back into the casing of E-122 and replaced the head. If Sonic wasn't fast enough to get back before the Battery crashed, hopefully the thick metal would protect the Flicky. Sonic prepared to smash through some walls. Something else exploded, shaking the entire falling ship. Sonic heard a mechanical hum and turned around fast, due to instinct.

A holographic message floated in the air: Please specify central command verbally. If a mark is requested, please concentrate on the mark as you give the command.

Sonic read the message, the slowly walked through it. The message seemed to be coming from the eye of E-122. Salvation. Even if E-122 was some sort of failure, the shock might slow Eggman down while Sonic stopped Chaos. Then he could use his Super form to catch up with Robotnik and save Cream. Hopefully, E-122 could fly.

Sonic went to the front of the message and said in a slow loud voice "Protect Cream." He concentrated as hard as he could on Cream as he said the command.

The message changed and read: Thank You. Metal Sonic is going online.

_Metal?! _That sure wasn't E-122. From underneath E-122, a red light shone. Sonic quickly reopened E-122 and pulled the Flicky out. Metal rose from the rusting machines around him. He was a little rusty, some of his paint was flaking off, and his left eye light was out. Metal creaked as he approached Sonic.

Metal looked at Sonic and emitted a series of beeps.

"Uhh, Cream is being held hostage by Robotnik…" Sonic tightened up, ready for Metal to stop acting almost broken and attack him at high speed. Metal beeped some more, ripped through the side of the Flying Battery and fell. Sonic, still holding the Flicky, went to the hole and looked down. Metal attempted to activate his engines, failed, tried again, and succeeded. He jetted off in the direction of the rest of the Flying Battery.

_How'd he know Eggman was there? Better yet, why was he in the junk heap?_ Sonic pondered these questions until he realized he just got a solution to his problem. Sonic leapt out of the Flying Battery and landed on the ground that was only about four hundred meters away. When he hit the ground, he raced to get a safe distance away from the falling Battery. Sonic stopped and looked into the sky. He watched Metal fly erratically towards the Flying Battery's better half.

_Damn, can I trust him...Eggman could have easily planted him there…_

No time to second guess himself. Sonic sped off, Flicky close to his chest, hoping to whatever god there was that for once Metal would be helpful. And hoping even more that Metal wasn't just another device to cause Sonic guilt if he happened to just be another way to torture the poor young rabbit who had no place in this violent plan of Robotnik's.

Sonic turned away from what could be a huge mistake and ran towards the Mystic Ruins.

Yeah! There's Metal! This sure was a long one! Well review plz. Man this is starting to become so much fun for me! Heck, I might end up updating in a day or two. Dezerango out.


	4. Chapter 4

Yeah…I have nothing to say really. Just read. I personally love this chapter, I hope you do too. Still, no stealing OCs and I don't own Sonic.

I wonder if I could have done it without his help. I wonder if it would have caused less suffering.

Tails's breathing slowed and quieted when he heard the heavy metal footsteps of Mecha Knuckles and his 3 E-20000s passing his position. Tails held his breath when they stopped, only a thin veil of leaves between him and his attackers. Tails was tired; his gun felt so heavy. He didn't know if he could do this

Tails had obviously been surprised when Mecha Knuckles burst through the entrance of his workshop and assaulted him. Tails had been working on Tikal's body; he had been attaching the live stabilizer to be exact. Mecha Knuckles snuck in while Tails was caught up in Eggman's short speech. He hadn't been able to see what had pissed Sonic off, but it worried Tails enough to distract him from his surroundings. Tails only barely heard Mecha Knuckle's engines fire up and when he turned only had seen him for a split second. Tails had been able to dodge Mecha Knuckles first attack, but it had been close. Mecha Knuckles did succeed in destroying Tails's communication computer though. Tails had grabbed the closest weapon, a 600-shot rapid-fire assault rail gun, and fired. The rail gun should have ripped a hole right through Mecha Knuckles, but he shrugged it off like it was nothing. Mecha Knuckles violet eyes fixed themselves on Tails and Mecha Knuckles began to march towards him. Tails probably spent twenty rounds that way until he realized that Mecha Knuckles wasn't even being slowed down by the bullets. Tails then used a flash grenade; he always had one or two on hand, and managed to slip outside.

Waiting for him were four E-20000s, Robotnik's newest and most advanced robots. They were about six feet tall and equipped with high power rifles. They had the outwardly appearance of GUN special operatives, but they had no voices and could move as no human could. Tails had only known they were enemies then he saw the bright blue lights the robots had for eyes. Tails panicked and let off a few rounds. Most of them missed, but two caught one E-20000. The first in its arm did nothing; in fact Tails was sure the round didn't even get all the way through its arm. But the second caught the robot in the knee, damaging some mechanism and hampering its movement.

The other E-20000s fired at Tails. Tails had only barely been able to roll out of the line of fire and make a run for it. The E-20000s did not give chase; they didn't even shoot after him. He guessed they were waiting for Mecha Knuckles. Tails took that chance to get into the thinner part of the jungles of the Mystic Ruins.

When he got a chance to stop and take a break, Tails discovered he hadn't been as lucky as he thought. In one of his tails a needle had embedded itself. The E-20000s weren't shooting to kill; they wanted whatever was in that needle in Tails. They had succeeded. That's when he heard the footsteps.

Tails was getting drowsy. Now he knew what was in that needle. Mecha Knuckles and the E-20000s still stood only a few meters away. The affects of the sedative were quick; Tails fell to his knees and dropped his gun. It fired. The metal footsteps started again, coming closer and closer to him. Tails fought to keep consciousness and tried to stand. He fell down on his belly. Tails couldn't fell his body and his eyes were forcing themselves shut. Just before it all went black, a pair of shining violet eyes peeked through the bushes surrounding the almost unconscious fox.

***

Robotnik stared hard at the quivering young rabbit he had put into chains a short while ago. He had his slaves burn and beat the rabbit before her short appearance a little while ago and she was still crying about it. The burns weren't even that bad; her young skin barely boiled at all. And he'd done the kindness to beat her before he burned her. He should have taken the time to find Knuckles. At least with him there would be just a little more quiet.

Eggman paced back and forth, checking his Sonic tracker every time he passed it. Besides himself, Cream, and Cream's torture rack, the wall sized tracker screen was the only thing in the 400x400 meter room of the Flying Battery. The tracker tracked by speed; anything breaking the sound barrier would be picked up. Its range was fixed on the falling part of the Flying Battery and so far nothing.

Robotnik turned to Cream. "Well it appears that you are a mediocre hostage. Sonic hasn't started coming for you."

"H..l c..e" Cream muttered. Eggman walked up to Cream and delivered a firm backhand to her face.

"What did you say little girl?" Robotnik snickered as Cream recoiled from the slap and thrashed about.

"He'll come!" Cream cried out before sinking into another round of tears. Robotnik sighed and looked again at the tracker. He smiled.

A blip had exited the falling Battery and on and off appeared on screen. Then a second, solid blip exited the Battery in the opposite direction. "Well looks like Sonic isn't coming for you after all!" Robotnik chuckled, knowing Sonic had helped change his plan for the better. His original idea was to have Mecha Knuckles attack Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all at once. After Mecha Knuckles inevitable destruction, Robotnik would tell them about Cream and Chaos. Having to choose, Sonic would either go after Cheese or stop Chaos. Either way, the end result would be Eggman getting the Master Emerald, either directly from EggRobo or as ransom for Cheese.

But then Robotnik noticed Sonic and Knuckles's movements right before he planned to execute his plans. And now, thanks to their positions, it seemed that by the end of the day Robotnik would have the Master Emerald and still have Cream as a hostage. Robotnik just got a transmission from EggRobo a few minutes ago. Chaos was out and about, in Perfect from no less, and EggRobo had retrieved the Master Emerald. Currently, it was in combat with an echidna that it didn't know. EggRobo was probably just fighting Knuckles and no longer recognized him. And better yet, Mecha Knuckles was now hunting down Tails. Today, instead of getting just the Master Emerald as planned, Robotnik would have two hostages, the Master Emerald, and Mecha Knuckles still intact.

Eggman looked back at Cream. She in every way was the imperfect hostage. No one noticed when she first disappeared over a month ago, although that did help in the long run. She had no information that could make Robotnik's perfect plan even more perfect. And, to Robotnik's surprise, his constant torture had only just begun to affect the rabbit mentally. Well it didn't matter now. She was good enough, although Amy would have been more effective. But that damn hedgehog has been nowhere he's looked. For now, Eggman would focus on the task at hand.

Cream currently was attached to a slight variation of a medieval torture machine. It was a simple design; chains attached to her arms and legs would be pulled slowly, tighter and tighter, until her limbs were torn off, or until Eggman decided to stop. Whichever came first. Cream was almost at the point where the device would start to hurt her. Unlike its ancient counterpart, this mechanism was automated. If Robotnik wasn't careful it could rip off Cream's limbs too quickly. And that would be no fun at all.

Robotnik was just about to enjoy Cream's first expression of pain when a hover screen rushed into the chamber. Robotnik turned to face the screen. The face of an E-20000 faced him, this particular one of commander grade. The robot saluted him and said, "Sir, an unknown object has torn through the hull of the ship. We sent a team of twelve men to investigate. That was seven minutes and thirty two seconds ago. We are exactly four hundred meters from the object's position."

Robotnik rolled his eyes. No matter how much better he made the robots, they always would need his help not on the complicated things but the simplest of problems. "Well, how many men do you have with you?"

"Currently 97 E-20000 units and myself." The robot stated without even a moment of hesitation. Eggman gave the robot a 'what the hell do you think you should do' look before saying, "Take this screen with you and check it out!"

"Affirmative!" the order seemed to soundlessly be passed through every E-20000 there. Putting themselves in tight rows, they began to march to the hull breach. Before he forgot to, Eggman stopped the slow progression of Cream's torture rack.

After a minute of soundless marching, a badly damaged E-20000 commander unit rushed towards the oncoming platoon. The platoon split down the middle to allow the commander to pass. It stopped at Robotnik's screen, saluted, and collapsed.

From the floor, the machine said, "All three hundred E-20000 guardian grade units on deck destroyed sir…*bzzt*" Eggman rose an eyebrow.

"Well, keep going!" Eggman urged. The robots, almost reluctantly, continued their march, past their fallen comrade. Right before the very front of the platoon reached a left turn in the corridor, the little hull breach stepped around the corner and stood, staring past all of the E-20000s. Staring right at Robotnik.

Robotnik was startled, but not wholly surprised. Metal had been on board the part of the Flying Battery he had dropped. Although to see him running about, taking down hundreds of guardian grad E-20000s was amazing. Robotnik had almost completely disassembled Metal Sonic before tossing him in the Failure pile. Metal only had the jet engine, his hull, and CPU left. That surly shouldn't have been enough to come and attack Robotnik. The fact that Metal was coming after him was a mix of surprise and lack of it. The inhibitor chip Robotnik had placed in Metal after Metal turned rebel had been removed for Robotnik's studies and improvement. However, Robotnik had wiped Metal's memory, so there should be no reason for Metal to attack him. And there was still the problem of how he was doing this without joint engines, a central command, a power source the list went on and on.

"Protect Cream…" The high child-like voice seemed to ring through the entire corridor. Well…maybe he did have a central command.

"Well Metal, I'm impressed. I thought I had completely destroyed your innards, but I guess I was wrong. But you still don't look so good old friend! So much rust and I do believe you are missing some fingers. Well you had your fun Metal. Stand down and I'll put you out of your misery." Robotnik looked at Metal, waiting for the machine to wise up and go on his knees.

"Protect Cream…"

"Fine friend, come and 'protect Cream'. She's with me! If somehow you manage to defeat 98 E-20000s at once, follow that hall and take the first right you see. I'll be waiting." Robotnik chuckled.

"Protect Cream…" Eggman could see Metal's jet engine powering up.

"En Garde," Robotnik shut down the floating screen just as Metal rushed into a 98 E-20000 army, arms outstretched. Eggman could hear the fighting down the hall. And once again, the haunting childish voice.

"Protect Cream…"

I like this chapter soo much. I'm sorry but you'll have to wait a bit for the next one. I want to catch up on some reading and start another Sonic fanfic. Until next time.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello again! Well I'm back. Did some reading, did not start Sidestep though. Thinking of this story got in the way too much. Well, as of now it's delayed until after I finish this. So let's get to it!

I still want to say it was necessary. I think I'm lying.

Sonic skidded to a halt in front of Station Square Train Station. He looked at the departure time displayed on an LCD above the tall multi-door entrance.

_Thirty minutes! No time for that._

Sonic thought of a different way to the Mystic Ruins and ultimately Angel Island. At first, nothing at all hit him. He didn't want to piss off the train guards, but it looked like he would have to. Sonic looked to the top of the train station. It looked like an easy enough jump. Sonic backed up past the other side of the street, past s small concrete wall, onto some sand, into the ocean… Sonic jumped when he realized he was in water and walked forward, an idea forming. Sonic rushed not towards the train station, but to the hotel nearby. He ran through and passed the outdoor pool and went to the beach.

Sonic stopped at the pier. He looked around the still ocean. Not even a ripple shook the calm water.

_Oh come on! Whenever I don't need you you're here!_

Sonic ran around the pier, making as much noise as he possibly could. He looked at the east edge of the pier. Nothing. West side. Nothing. "I can't believe…" Sonic started right before through the south edge of the pier, the side that was connected to the beach, burst none other than the easily excited orca that had caused thousands in damages to this pier in the past. Sonic smiled. "'Bout time!" Sonic ran along the non destroyed portion of the pier, the orca following close behind. Sonic wove through the many sharp turns of the pier with ease, as did the orca.

Sonic tightened his muscles in anticipation as he approached yet another corner. He ran to nearly the very edge of the stretch of pier, and then right before he ran himself into the deep blue Sonic preformed a massive back flip, propelling himself onto the back of the orca. Sonic gripped the dorsal of the orca tightly as he landed. The orca, with its playmate nowhere to be seen, started to dive into the sea. Sonic took a deep breath. As the whale dived, Sonic went through his plan in his mind. Orca, check. Me, check. The whale would have to come up for air every once in a while, so whenever he did Sonic would utilize the weaker version of Chaos Control he could use to appear in the whale's vision for a moment and catch its eye. Hopefully, the whale would swim in the direction it saw Sonic in. Foolproof. Sonic felt a change in pressure as the orca began to ascend.

_Good. I'm almost out of air._

The orca was almost at the surface. Sonic mentally prepare for first the cold wind that would pierce his wet skin, and then for Chaos control. He wanted to go to Angel Island, so he would have to appear to…

_Hey…Which way IS Angel Island…_

***

Knuckles looked at Tails, a weird looking rifle still in his sleeping grip. Knuckles had arrived from Angel Island and had heard gunshots coming from over here. Knuckles looked over Tails's sleeping form. He looked fine. Knuckles guessed he'd just been testing the weapon out on whomever Sonic wanted Knuckles to help stop.

_See Sonic. Tails is a big boy he can handle himself._

Knuckles began to shake Tails so the two of them could go help Sonic with Chaos. Knuckles shook him nice and hard. Tails didn't react. "Tails?" Knuckles asked, shaking Tails harder. "Tails, Tails wake up!" Knuckles began to shout louder until it was obvious Tails wasn't waking up. Knuckles could still hear Tails breathing, but other than that the fox neither moved nor made a sound.

"Tails…what the heck did you d-"Knuckles heard a sudden movement in the foliage around him and somersaulted forward on instinct. Knuckles heard a dull crash from where he had been standing. Knuckles whipped his head around and met the soulless eyes of Mecha Knuckles.

"Didn't I smash you a long time ago?" Knuckles asked the machine. In answer, it charged Knuckles with a fist outstretched. Knuckles met the fist with a punch of his own. The punches met, and both Mecha Knuckles and Knuckles were thrown back. Knuckles landed on his back and slid back a little. Knuckles spat some dirt out of his mouth and stood up. Mecha Knuckles had been knocked over, but now stood as well.

"Well looks like you got an upgrade. Sucks that I've gotten stronger too don't it?" Knuckles let his eyes flash at Tails for a moment. Tails was still lying on the ground not too far from Knuckles. Knuckles didn't know if he could get to Tails quickly, or where he'd take Tails anyway. Best just to leave him as is. Knuckles smiled at Mecha Knuckles. "Let's get this party started shall we?" Knuckles slammed to ground hard with his fist and caused a mini earthquake that knocked Mecha Knuckles off of its feet. Knuckles launched himself into the air and aimed a punch at the fallen robot.

Mecha Knuckles rolled out of harm's way at the last moment and Knuckles ended up punching the ground again. Mecha Knuckles brought itself into a kneeling position and opened its mouth. A missile pushed its way through the opening and sped towards Knuckles. Knuckles sidestepped it and jabbed at Mecha Knuckles. Mecha Knuckles dodged, and then back flipped. Before Knuckles could give chase, a blunt object hit his back before exploding. Knuckles was thrown right under Mecha Knuckles's flip and into a tangle of thorny vines. Knuckles leapt out of the vines (an act he would later regret) and head butted Mecha Knuckles as he landed. Mecha Knuckles flew into the air. Mecha Knuckles managed to twist its body and shot off lasers from its eyes. Knuckles turned around and feel back into a handstand. The lasers hit the metal pieces on his shoes and were reflected back at Mecha Knuckles. The shots hit, poking twin holes in Mecha Knuckles's forehead. Mecha Knuckles fell hard.

Knuckles walked over to Mecha Knuckles. The robot wasn't moving.

"One, two, three, you're out buddy." Knuckles brought his fist up and down on Mecha Knuckles. Mecha Knuckles's arm sprung up and caught the fist and Mecha Knuckles preformed a haymaker on Knuckles. Knuckles reared from the blow and roared in pain. Mecha Knuckles stood up and did a quick succession of jabs. Knuckles managed to block. Mecha Knuckles attempted a head butt, but Knuckles caught Mecha Knuckles's head and used the momentum to flip himself over Mecha Knuckles. Knuckles hooked his arms into Mecha Knuckles's. For a moment, back to back, Knuckles and Mecha Knuckles just stood. Then, almost as if a start gun had gone off, both began to pull their arms forward. Knuckles could feel a vein in his head start to pop out and his muscles burned with effort. Knuckles could hear the strain the test of strength was having on Mecha Knuckles: gears attempted to turn, skipped, and tried again. Electricity seemed to flow freely and loudly inside the robot. Sweat formed on Knuckles's brow.

Suddenly, all resistance on Mecha Knuckles's side disappeared. Knuckles's arms quickly came together and Mecha Knuckles's arms were ripped out of their sockets. Knuckles leapt straight up in the air, turned, and brought this fist onto Mecha Knuckles's head. The head shattered under the pressure almost immediately. Knuckles stood up slowly, breathing raggedly. Mecha was down for good.

Knuckles turned to where Tails was laying. Gone. But a piece of paper was in the spot. Knuckles walked to the paper and picked it up.

_Your friend for the Master Emerald. Give quickly to us at Topaka temple at Mystic Ruins. Come before two days or friend may have hurt._

_***_

_Amazing, simply amazing._

Eggman watched as Metal walked into his chamber, holding the head of the command grade E-20000 that presided over the battle. Metal threw the head through the air and to Robotnik's feet. Robotnik picked up the head and looked at it. The neck hadn't been cut off; it had been torn off in a violent manner. Robotnik looked back up at Metal, whose gaze was fixed on the rabbit.

"Not yet friend. Still one challenge awaits you!" Eggman smiled, pressing a button he'd produced from a jacket pocket. A large hole opened in the center of the room. A gigantic, sand colored hand reached up and grabbed the edge of the circle. A second hand did the same. Robotnik pressed the button again. Cream was released from the torture machine, but another small flyer came from within the hole, grabbed Cream before she could hit the ground, and flew over the hole.

"Your final challenge, my greatest robotic masterpiece, the new and improved Egg Golem!" The headless body of the Egg Golem pulled itself over the circle and stood. Sand flew up and began to circle Cream. Cream looked around, distressed and met Metal's eye. Her gaze didn't leave his until the sand completely covered her. The sand compacted into the shape of the Egg Golem's head and red light erupted from the eyes. Metal looked at Robotnik.

"You hurt Cream," the voice said to Robotnik. Robotnik smiled.

"Yes I did. You better hurry, I'm not sure if she can breathe in there. So, what will you do?"

Metal looked at Cream. "Protect Cream," then he glared at Eggman.

"Then kill you."

Awesomeness!!! You know when I started this chapter I really didn't like it that much. Well I found a way to get Metal in here so I'm happy. Please keep on reviewing. Special late thanks to Blue Kaous for his energetic review. Whenever I start to get bored I just think about what he would say if I suddenly stop :P something tells me there would be caps. Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6

Do I have anything to say? Not really… So instead I'll just continue writing. Special thanks go out to Spring Break for giving me enough time to write this.

Now that I think about it, if I had saved Cream it all would have ended there.

Eggman watched as his amazing new Egg Golem did battle with his old creation. The battle had been something else from the beginning: As soon as Metal finished he threat, he blasted right into the Egg Golem's face. The Egg Golem had made a double fisted punch at him, and Metal _caught _the fists. Metal then _overpowered_ the Egg Golem and sent it into the side of its circular pit. After that, Metal flew head first into the Egg Golem's chest, creating a crater that only a meteorite should be able to make. The Egg Golem had managed to catch Metal in a clap as Metal escaped from the crater. Metal fell like a caught fly when the Egg Golem took its hands apart, but halfway to the ground Metal found new life and powered up and through the Egg Golem's head. Eggman could see that for a moment Cream was revealed before the sands reformed themselves into the head. The Egg Golem turned to face Metal and let a barrage of lasers off at Metal. Metal blocked each laser with his hands and flew at the Egg Golem again. The Egg Golem lowered its head and caught Metal with a massive head butt throwing Metal almost to the ceiling.

Metal shook himself off and was about to attack again when Eggman shouted "Enough fun. FINISH IT!" The Egg Golem raised both arms, fingertips extended towards Metal. Its fingertips popped off, revealing thousands of meter long missiles. All at once they fired, homing in on Metal. Metal did an amazing array of aerobatics to try and avoid the oncoming missiles, but once one caught him and threw off the mid air dance every missile after it caught Metal and exploded with a megagram of power. After the lightshow, Metal fell to the ground, not powering up again.

Robotnik walked to the fallen machine. It was charred black all over, a spine had been blown clear off, and all its fingers and its nose were nonexistent. However, the one red light of an eye still flickered. Metal raised a fingerless hand and tried to pull himself up using Robotnik's leg as a support. Robotnik laughed and pressed the button in his jacket. The Egg Golem turned to face Robotnik and its head poured back into the pit. Cream, still held by the flyer, gasped for air. Most likely, if Metal hadn't got her that mid fight breath she would have died.

Cream, after she'd gotten her fill of fresh air, look down at the beaming Eggman and the defeated savior. Eggman kicked the struggling robot and let it roll almost into the pit.

Eggman, strolling as slowly as possible, said, "You see Cream? Sonic never did come for you. He never intended to. Instead fate had it that he found a broken piece of junk, and then he decided it was good enough to save you." Robotnik reached Metal. He raised a booted foot and brought it down on Metal's chest. The metal, weakened with heat and age, bent under the foot's pressure. "Well, I suppose you use the worthless to save the worthless."

"No! I'm not worthless and neither is Metal!" Cream screamed from her perch. "I know he can beat you. He can do it if he tries his hardest."

Eggman laughed at this. "Try his hardest!? Who told you that load?"

"Amy did and it's true!" Cream yelled, empowered by the distance between them.

"Ha AMY? You mean the same Amy whose been 'trying her hardest' to court Sonic for years?" Eggman brought his foot up and stomped on Metal's head. "Face facts little girl. Some time, if not all times, you're best just isn't good enough. It's especially so for a soulless machine like Metal. He can only do things within his parameters. If something's even an once over a ton, Metal can't lift it. If something's going just a bit faster than him, Metal can't go faster. If a machine is better than him, Metal can't win."

"What about that one time?" Cream asked. She didn't need to elaborate. Even Robotnik knew what "that one time" was when referring to Metal.

"Twist of fate. And still he wasn't good enough to destroy Sonic. The fact of the matter is this: You're worthless, he's worthless. I'm going to finish with him, then kill you." Robotnik felt a strong push against his kneecap that caused him to trip. Eggman caught himself, his face inches away from the pit. Eggman righted himself and turned. Metal was standing again.

"I will protect Cream. Cream is all Metal knows. If Cream dies, Metal is useless." Metal stood proudly and defiantly, facing Eggman ready for battle, even though at this point a particularly strong wind could defeat him.

"Let me tell you a secret," Eggman walked to Metal and grabbed his arm. "You're already useless." Eggman whipped around, throwing Metal into the pit. Eggman looked up at Cream and laughed. "Well he tried his hardest!"

Cream stuck her tongue out at Robotnik. "He'll just fly back up you'll see." Robotnik shook his head.

"Egg Golem, stomp him." Eggman looked down the pit as the Egg Golem first brought up one foot and stomped. The foot caught everything but Metal's head. The other foot caught that.

"See. Useless." Eggman produced a pistol from his jacket. "And so are you."

***

Knuckles rushed through the Mystic Ruins, without the Master Emerald. Anything that Robotnik could make, he could smash. But the problem with the situation was he had no idea what or where the Topaka temple was.

_That's why they gave me two days…_

Knuckles only had one real hope in finding the temple quickly. A big, dumb, blue hope. Knuckles had been following a small river in the Mystic Ruins for quite some time and now came to the shack-home of Big the cat. Knuckles slowed himself to a walk and slowly approached the fish-smelling abode. Knuckles could see lures of various types all around the shack and a small fire burning near the side facing the river.

Knuckles cupped his hands around his mouth and called, "Big! Get out here!" There was a commotion inside. The entire shack seemed to shake and looked as if it were going to fall. Out of one of the many holes in the shack's roof hopped Big's best friend Froggy. The frog landed on Knuckles's head and croaked. Knuckles reached up and picked Froggy up off of his head. The frog croaked again.

"Here I come Froggy!" the hulking cat ran around the side of the shack and stopped in front on Knuckles. Froggy wriggled his way out of Knuckles's grip and leapt into Big's open arms. Big caught him with a laugh and let Froggy climb onto his head. Big turned his attention to Knuckles.

" Yes?" Big asked, his saucer like eyes fixed on Knuckles.

"Big," Knuckles began. Knuckles took in a breath and let it out as a sigh. "I need your help."

Big jumped up excitedly and began to babble something about being a great help and how he was ready to take on baddies. Knuckles brought a finger to his lips and Big quieted.

"I just need you to help me find the temple of Topaka," Knuckles said calmly.

"Tapioca?" Big asked perplexed. "I don't think there's any pudding here Knuckles."

Knuckles brought his hand slowly over his eyes and counted backwards from 10 in his head. "Topaka, not tapioca Big. I'm guessing that they were an ancient people that lived here at some point."

"Pudding people?!" Big exclaimed. "Are they not here anymore 'cause everyone ate them?"

Knuckles really didn't like working with Big. "Sure, why not. Do you know where the temple might be?"

"Well if I were a pudding people I'd hide in the sandy hole." Big said with an expression somewhere near that of a thinker's.

"Sandy hole…Big could you take me there?" Knuckles asked, wondering if he was just going to get lead to a dried up fishing hole.

"Sure!" Big pointed to the east. "It's thataway. Follow Big!" Big started to march off. Knuckles sighed and followed him.

_Well, I do have two days…_

***

Tikal shook her head and sucked on the air as if she had just been drowning. The EggRobo laughed its mechanical laugh and fired more lasers. Tikal dodged and made another jump at the hovercraft. The EggRobo dodged with ease and fired a laser at Tikal while she still hung mid jump. It hit and sent Tikal flying. Tikal managed to land on her feet.

_Why am I wasting time trying to fight this thing? I should be calming Chaos…_

Tikal thought about Chaos, She could feel that the cold inside the mountain had slowed him do tremendously, plus the fact that he had no idea how to escape the mountain worked in her favor. Knuckles had been trying to fight Chaos for the longest of times, but he'd stopped for some unknown reason. Tikal had elected to stop the EggRobo, but she had never fought before and even a foe that the others would describe as an easy win was a handful for her.

Tikal looked up at the EggRobo. It had the reconstructed Master Emerald attached to the bottom of the hovercraft. Perhaps…

Tikal went to her knees. She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes. "Master Emerald, hear my plea. I am in need of you help. In all your infinite wisdom I know you know what I need now. I beg of you, please send me a hero." The Master Emerald glowed for a moment, but other than that nothing happened.

The EggRobo laughed. "*bzzt* It is too late to pray for *bzzt* your life. Prepare *bzzt* to-"The EggRobo stopped when the sea near Angel Island began to churn violently. A dark shadow under the waters began to surface at an extremely fast speed. It emerged with a flurry of water and splashed back into the water. Something had been whipped off of the shadow when it leapt out and flew straight at Tikal.

"What is that…?" Tikal couldn't see clearly due to her injuries and fatigue. It was blue, spiky, and was getting closer, closer…

"Ummph!" Sonic slammed into Tikal at full force, causing both of them to tumble to the ground. Tikal got up first and stared at the wet hedgehog. "Sonic?"

Sonic stood up and coughed. "Yeah it's me…" Sonic coughed up some water and then shook himself.

"Well haven't you come at a great time! Could you deal with that for me please?" Tikal pointed at the EggRobo, who now seemed to be trying to find a means of escape.

"Huh? Oh yeah I can do that," Sonic coughed again and then jumped into the air, curling into a tight ball as he approached the EggRobo. The EggRobo was far too slow to dodge and was pierced by Sonic's attack. The EggRobo exploded, dropping the Master Emerald on the grass below. Tikal ran to the Master Emerald and hugged it. Sonic walked up behind her and watched.

"You're welcome…" He said almost to himself.

"Oh yes thank you thank you!" Tikal hugged the emerald some more and then stood. "Sonic, why are you here?"

"Knuckles sent me to stop Chaos," Sonic said.

"Oh, then you'll probability need these." Tikal took Knuckles's pack off of her back and gave it to Sonic. Sonic opened it and looked inside. The seven Chaos Emeralds glowed brightly and twinkled when Sonic ran his fingers over them.

"Yeah…These might be a help."

Well there it is. Hopefully I can update again as quickly as I did this time. Until we meet again!


	7. Chapter 7

Well people are reading so I'll keep writing. I think this chapter will be relatively awesome, so get ready. And if you're still reading this, that means you just wasted about three seconds of life you'll never get back…So read the story already!

But it still doesn't make sense to me. Metal was destroyed that day. Twice.

Sonic's eyes ran over the painfully white environment he found himself in. He wasn't cold; the power of the Chaos Emeralds was more than enough to keep him warm. Beside him, a ball of yellow light glowed brightly.

"I don't understand. I can feel Chaos's presence. He's practically right on top of you. Why can't you see him?" Tikal's voice came from the ball. Whenever it talked, it shimmered.

"Well, maybe he's hiding," Sonic replied, straining his ears for some sort of sound that would give away the giant beast's position.

"This is no time for sarcasm Sonic," Tikal said, her voice annoyed.

"I'm not kidding. If I weren't holding the Chaos Emeralds I'd have froze my tail off by now," Sonic answered. He shifted the pack full of emeralds on his back. "Chaos is like water. I wouldn't be surprised if he could freeze."

"That shouldn't happen. Chaos is still a Chao you know."

"Yeah yeah whatever. Maybe I should go Super now, so he maybe could recognize me better," Sonic was already pulling the emeralds from the pack.

"He's seen you many times as a blue hedgehog," Tikal observed.

"Yeah, but…I just hate running in snow okay?" Sonic took all the emeralds in his hands. He closed his eyes and felt the warmth of the emeralds enter his body. The emeralds grew hotter and hotter until at one point the heat erupted outward. With the heat left all of the pain, aches and fatigue in Sonic's body. Pure energy replaced the other sensations. Sonic opened his eyes to see the aura of yellow power surrounding him. He lifted an arm and studied the blonde hair that now covered his arm. He floated a little forward, letting himself bask in the feeling of extreme power and control.

"Chaos…CONTROL!" Sonic in an instant was at the very highest ice covered peak in the snowy range. His now red eyes caught every movement below, but not a single one seemed to match Chaos.

"God, where are you hiding Chaos?" Sonic muttered. Absent mindedly, Sonic let off a jolt of power through the air. Maybe it would lure Chaos out. Instead, Sonic's ears were stricken with a roar that most definitely belonged to Chaos. The roar felt as though Chaos was right next to him.

_No. On top of me…_

Sonic slowly turned his head upwards. The snow, that had been softly falling a moment ago, had stalled about fifty meters in the air. It began to swirl around and compact. On the sides of the mass of snow, two slits formed. They opened, revealing twin jade green eyes. The mass of snow turned into the head of Perfect Chaos and opened wide for a second roar. Sonic flew up and backward sp he could face Chaos.

"Tikal...what the hell?" Sonic asked. Chaos wasn't attacking yet, just looking at Sonic with a careful gaze.

"I-I-I have no idea. I've never heard of Chaos doing such a thing. I mean, he's a living creature. He has to keep his body somewhat warm. Turning into snow…That should be impossible!" Tikal, her ball still next to Sonic, exclaimed.

"Well, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that we found Chaos." Sonic condensed the aura around him and charged at Chaos. Sonic pierced through his head with ease.

"Tikal, his brain wasn't in there," Sonic told her. The snow on his fur melted and steamed away.

"I think I know why. Turn around." Sonic turned slowly. One after another Sonic met more and more pairs of jade green eyes. Sonic blinked and check again. Still there.

"This may present itself as a problem…

_No shit…_

***

Big and Knuckles walked through the hot sands of the secret desert in the Mystic Ruins. Big, cheerful as ever, chattered endlessly about the temple that, by his words, must be pretty amazing. Knuckles, barely listening to Big's words, had his mind on the fight ahead. He didn't know who he was facing, how many enemies there would be, or If Tails would even be with them. Hell, it could just be a trick to get Knuckles off of the trail. Knuckles sighed.

"Knuckles, what's wrong?" Big asked, somehow able to hear the sigh over the sound of his blabber. Knuckles looked up at the cat.

"Nothing…" Knuckles murmured. Big walked in front of Knuckles and stopped. "What?" Knuckles asked angrily.

"We're here!" Big exclaimed, waving a hand at a vast span of totally empty desert. Knuckles looked at the desert with a cynical eye.

"Big, what the fuck is this?" Knuckles asked, already getting angry. "Is the temple invisible Big? Does it fly away when red echidnas try to see it?" Knuckles kicked a cactus near his foot.

"I don't get it…" Big muttered. "It was here a few days ago.

"Big, temples don't get up and move around. Either it wasn't here to begin with, or you're just a lackadaisical imbecile who fucking dreamed it up!" Knuckles punched the ground and shouted, "I'm wasting time with you. Tails could die in two days and I'm standing here with you looking at your goddamn invisible temple!"

"Oh yeah!" Big exclaimed. He ran right by Knuckles as if he hadn't heard him shouting just a moment ago. Knuckles followed Big with his eyes. Big ran up to a rock formation and started hitting it. After a while he stared at it and then abandoned it. He went to a different rock formation and hit that one. He smiled and returned to Knuckles. "I forgot it could bury itself!"

"Bury?!" Knuckles asked before a shaking under the ground knocked Knuckles off of his feet. Knuckles watched as the empty sands in front of him turned into a growing mound of sand. The sand began to fall off of the mound, revealing an ancient temple. The temple took up most of the empty space that had been there moments ago. Knuckles looked at Big.

"And how do you know how to move this temple?" Knuckles inquired. Big shrugged. Knuckles really didn't expect much more than that. "Okay then…let's get a move on." Knuckles started for the large staircase that led up to the entrance of the Topaka temple. Big followed, unconsciously stoking Froggy on the head. Knuckles climbed the staircase, taking note of everything on and around the temple. From the intricate stone placement to the cacti growing in the nearby sands he took it all in. You never know when you'll need to make a quick escape.

"Big, have you ever been inside?" Knuckles asked before he pushed open the heavy looking double doors of the temple. Big shook his head.

"No, but Froggy has," Big replied, taking the frog off of his head and showing him to Knuckles. Knuckles eyed Big and Froggy.

"And were you there when Froggy took his private tour inside?" Knuckles asked. Big shook his head.

"Froggy just wanted to explore…" Big said. Knuckles let his head droop forward. The energy that it took to deal with Big was astounding.

"And he told you he was in there when he came back right?" Knuckles asked.

"How'd you know?!" Big shouted, placing Froggy back on his head. Knuckles sighed and faced the doors.

"Lucky guess," Knuckles grunted as he began to push on the large stone slabs that served as doors. Hopefully, Knuckles's luck didn't end there.

***

As the amazing pressure from the Egg Golem exerted itself on Metal, parts of his CPU began to crack and chip off. Metal was designed to withstand massive pressure, but slowly the weight of the Egg Golem was proving itself too much for the damaged robot. Suddenly, Metals view of the small crack of light he could see from under the Egg Golem faded away. It was replaced with a bright day in Station Square. Metal could feel the exactly 88.82 degree heat and see people walking around, making wide circles around Metal's field of vision. Nearby, waves crashed against the concrete wall that protected Station Square from being flooded during bad weather.

Metal was astounded. He was remembering.

Metal remembered his mission at the time. He had been ordered to trace Sonic's path he'd taken during the Chaos incident. At that particular moment, Metal had reached the point only moments before Sonic turned into Super Sonic and battled Perfect Chaos. Metal was walking slowly down the sidewalk, although more likely Sonic would have been running on a roof of some sort. Metal had already traced the path over the roofs using his CPU, so there was no reason the run the course himself like he needed to in other areas. Metal was almost done with the mission and he wasn't supposed to be done for another two days, so any way to prolong the mission was good.

Metal then heard a commotion near the water. He turned his head and saw a rabbit in an orange dress crying and pulling on the clothing of passerby. She begged them to do something or another, pointing at the ocean. The passerby would look, shake their head and move on. Metal was familiar with the scene. Sonic would find himself with situations like this every day and had to decide whether or not he would help. Metal had his CPU, so decisions like this were far easier. Metal just put in factors like guilt, situation, time, and reward into his CPU. According to the CPU, Sonic had a 0.0000000000000000000395% chance of stopping for the rabbit. In his CPU, Metal rolled a multi sextillion sided dice to see if the one side that said help the rabbit would happen to be chosen. Metal did something close to a laugh. The chances were impossible. Metal was already walking past the rabbit when the dice stopped moving.

_New mission objective: Help the rabbit._

Metal stopped. That couldn't be right. He read the mission that superimposed itself over Metal's normal vision over again. Still it read help her. Metal turned around and approached the rabbit. Tears flowed down her face even faster now that even fewer people would pass now that Metal approached. Metal stopped in front of the rabbit. He emitted a series of beeps, trying to make contact with the mammal. The rabbit, blinded from fear in her sorrow, hugged Metal and wept.

"Puh-Please help Cheese! H-He's drowning!" The rabbit pointed at the perfectly still water and cried more. Metal changed his view to thermal. Fish and other marine life filled the ocean, but one body of heat stuck out as it slowly sank into the water. Metal pulled the rabbit off of him and flew right into the water and towards the heat signature. Metal caught the heat and brought it up out of the water and back to the rabbit's heat. He returned his view to normal and looked at the heat in his hand. It turned out to be a strange blue creature the likes of which Metal had never seen before. The rabbit hopped excitedly, seeing the creature. The creature coughed, coughed a lot actually, and then opened its eyes. The rabbit scooped up the creature and hugged it to her chest.

"Thank you thank you! I don't know what I'd do if-if," The rabbit plunged into tears again and hugged the creature. Metal watched for a moment and had begun to walk away when he heard the rabbit's voice.

"Wait please," the rabbit had said. She laid the creature on the sidewalk and rushed to Metal's side. "I really think that Cheese would like to meet the nice guy who saved him. But I was supposed to be home a long time ago so I can't wait for him to wake up. If you weren't already going to do something, could you possibly come over to, you know, wait with me?"

Metal, like he was commanded to in this mission, checked the percent chance of Sonic doing this. The chances were astronomically low. But Metal didn't waste his time with the roll. Something told him that he'd be going, one way or another. Metal looked down at the rabbit and nodded.

"You will! Okay, let me just get Cheese!" the rabbit ran to the blue creature and scooped it up in one arm. She ran back to Metal and grabbed one of his cold metal hands and tugged at him. "Come on! I don't wanna be any more late. By the way, my name's Cream. What's yours?" Metal pointed at the area his mouth should be and tapped. "Oh you can't talk! That's okay, neither can Cheese. I'll just call you Sir Knight, like the guy in my storybook." Metal looked at Cream, but did not protest the name. Nobody had given him his own name before. He had always just been 'stupid machine' or 'my greatest creation' or just a codename. Metal liked having a name, a name he'd be called more than once.

Metal spent 32 hours exactly at Cream's small house that she shared with her mother Vanilla. Vanilla was a nice woman and didn't question Metal's presence at all. The whole time Cream was either at Cheese's side or just alone in the living room whenever her mother was out. She talked to Metal a lot, even though he couldn't answer. She talked about how sad she was and about how jealous she was of Amy, a hedgehog Metal vividly remembers kidnapping. Exactly 27 hours after Metal had saved him, Cheese, who Metal had learned was a Chao, awakened. Cream was so joyful and laughed and smiled. Cheese also proved to be a nice soul and for three more hours Cheese, Cream and Metal played ridiculous games and read out of storybooks.

Then, 31 hours after rescue, Cream and Cheese went to bed. An hour later, Metal left. Metal had to finish the mission he'd been putting off. But as he left Cream's home, a strange cold appeared in his chest area. The cold wasn't there before Metal met Cream, but now that he was leaving the cold sat heavily in the pit of his chest. Metal pondered the cold. He knew he didn't like it, but there was no time to worry about it now. Metal flew through the streets of Station Square, wanting to finish his mission so he could be put to sleep. Sleep would kill the cold.

***

Years later, Metal stood in front of a mirror eyeing the new body he'd made for himself. Five spines stuck out of his head and he was much taller than his original form. In a few moments, Metal would make a grand entrance and take the form that would destroy his nemesis, Sonic the hedgehog, once and for all. He would've made the entrance already if it wasn't for one thing. The cold in his chest had returned.

Metal was shocked by the cold. It hadn't been there when he'd first seen Cream for the first time in years. But it was here now, right before his finest hour.

_It's here because I know I have the power to hurt her. But I have to complete the mission. And the mission is to Destroy Sonic the Hedgehog._

_NO! THE MISSION IS TO PROTECT CREAM!_

With a jolt Metal came back to the present. It was true. And Metal wouldn't fail the mission, not again. A new sensation, similar to the cold erupted in his chest. But it was warm, suddenly his limbs didn't feel heavy and he didn't feel as if he was running on fumes. He had the power not to fail.

The power to protect Cream.

***

Eggman stood with the pistol pointed at Cream. She was quivering, but still had some sort of hope that Metal would come in save her.

"Hope is dead girl. Just like you." Robotnik fired. But instead of blood and the last cry of a dead rabbit, Robotnik saw a crack of lightning hit the bullet inches away from Cream's head.

"I will not fail! Not again!" Eggman heard a deep dark voice he hadn't heard since the incident. And then, to his horror, the 30 ton Egg Golem began to rise.

I liked it! R&R. I wonder if I'll get flames now. I know I will in a chapter or two lol. Until we meet again!


	8. Chapter 8

I just realized how long last chapter was! Well it was long. Anyway, this is probably how I'll update from now on. Once, maybe twice a weekend. Sorry to anyone who's on this story like a drug :P.

Well, the second rebirth isn't the mystery to me. The first one, with the lifting, was.

Eggman watched in terror as his 30 ton Egg Golem rose about five feet higher than it should be. Eggman ran over to the pit and looked down. He could see an intense light coming from under the raised feet of the Egg Golem. "Well Robotnik? Are you just going to stand there, mouth agape, or are you going to face me with honor?" Eggman realized his jaw had fallen and clamped it shut. "I guess that's how much honor you have. It matters not. I plan to live up to the promise I made earlier." Robotnik could hear a buzzing in the air. His hair, or rather what was left of it, floated upward, pulled by an unseen force. Robotnik stood and backed away from the pit.

"What form of witchcraft is this?" Robotnik asked, his voluminous mustache obscuring his vision. "There's no way you could stand! Never mind the heavy lifting! You can't be moving, it's a mathematical impossibility!"

"No. The only impossible thing is you escaping me in one piece. Now that is witchcraft." Metal's voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. Robotnik saw two balls of electrical energy form above the Egg Golem. They shimmered and then let loose a pair of lightning strikes that formed an X through the Egg Golem. The Egg Golem stood motionless for a moment, and then collapsed into rubble. The lightning had hit the flying machine holding Cream up, causing her to fall with the ruin. Eggman couldn't believe his eyes. The incredible remodeled Egg Golem, gone in an instant. But that had to have taken whatever had been left in Metal. It was over.

Robotnik walked over to the pit. It was filled almost to the brim with the remains of the Egg Golem. There seemed only just enough room for the three foot thick plate to be replaced. Eggman spat in the hole. "Good bye and good riddance,"

"Oh please good doctor, did you think it was going to be that easy?" A column of electricity erupted from under the debris and shot up through the roof. As the energy dissipated, Robotnik saw what little remained of the ravaged hull of Metal floating in midair. Surrounding him was an aura of golden energy formed in the shape of the larger Neo Metal. Held in one arm like an infant was Cream.

"Wha-wha-?" Robotnik stumbled back as Metal landed and began to walk towards him. Metal stopped once Robotnik hit a wall.

"Is there one good reason I shouldn't char your body until you blow away in the wind?" Metal asked. Cream looked at Robotnik, a smile on her face.

"I made you…" Robotnik whispered.

"Not a very good reason doctor. But you do have one thing going for you," Metal look down at Cream. "Cream shouldn't have to see someone die in the horrible way you should. But make no mistake, you will die in the way you should." Metal grabbed Robotnik's neck with his free hand and lifted him up.

"Look in to my eyes doctor. Tell me, do you see any compassion, mercy, anything of the like?" Robotnik gasped for air. Metals strength seemed to be o the verge of collapsing his windpipe. "No, you don't. Because you never took the time to give me any. And, even with a general compassion level of zero for all things, my compassion for you is even less." Metal lifted Robotnik higher, then slammed him down. Robotnik roared in pain and rolled on the ground. Cream whined a little.

Metal looked up at Cream. "I apologize for that. Shall we be off?" She nodded. Metal turned away and walked towards the room's center. When he reached it, Cream lifted out of his arms and stayed suspended in the air. Metal spread his arms wide and emitted a high frequency noise. The noise, although Robotnik couldn't hear it, vibrated in his mind. The floor in the center of the room shattered, exposing an incredible tangle of wires. Metal lowered himself into it, and began to absorb power directly from the ship. As the energy flowed into him, the aura around him morphed and grew. It swelled up and took the form of another beast from the incident, Metal Overlord. Cream drifted over to the neck of the Overlord and dropped onto it. Metal, the husk now in the center of the Overlord, looked at the ceiling. He roared and let loose shots of energy that destroyed it.

Metal made ready to take off. His massive wings started to move slowly. Metal turned his head to Eggman. "Doctor, do you know what the warmth is?"

Robotnik slowly twisted his neck so he could look Metal in the eye. "What warmth you bloody ungrateful machine?" Metal shook his head.

"Not even you can tell me. It truly must be a mystery…" Metal looked up and gave another roar. He flapped his wings and took off, shaking the entire ship as he went. Robotnik looked after the robot. He was gone.

Robotnik struggled to his feet. The choke slam had hurt his back badly. Robotnik cursed. There was no way e could get in a machine to chase Metal.

_Hell, I probably couldn't get in the bathroom with this back. God I'm tired._

Robotnik fell to his knees then on his stomach. He let his eyes slowly come together. Before he could fall asleep, a loud beeping noise forced him back into consciousness. Eggman looked around until he noticed a small wheel bound robot.

"Master, an unidentified flying robot has just breeched our field. Should we pursue and attack?" The robot buzzed to Robotnik. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten. The Flying Battery was a battleship.

"Yes, and get me a Medobot," Robotnik said. The robot beeped and rolled away. Robotnik had made that thing when he was a child. Now all it did was run little errands. Robotnik let himself fall into the abyss of sleep.

_My real greatest creation. Saved my life…_

***

Knuckles and Big walked through the ancient halls of the Topaka temple, listening hard for any sign of Tails. Big was shaking, not being the bravest of Sonic's acquaintances. Knuckles tried to keep his attention on the task at hand, but Big, coupled with the fact that this appeared to be an echidna temple did a damn good job of distracting him. Knuckles turned down another corridor and stopped. Before him stood a massive statue of an echidna in full war outfit.

Knuckles looked up and down the echidna statue, trying to figure out what tribe the echidna was from. The echidna had fingered hands like the Nocturnous, but each knuckle on the hands had a spike. The echidna's hair was done in dreads in the front, and in a spiky ponytail at the back. The echidna held a massive buster blade in one hand and wore boots that looked even heavier than the stone that made them. Around his neck was a chain which a single key hung from.

"Wow, who was he?" Knuckles asked to no one in particular. Big walked up next to him.

"Gee, I don't know." Big said. Knuckles gave in to temptation and smacked Big upside the head. "Hey that hurt!"

"That's the idea," Knuckles replied, getting closer to the statue. The amount of detail was astounding. The artist had even gone to the lengths of chiseling out each and every stray thread on the echidna's clothing.

"My great grandfather to the tenth power," A voice rang through the halls. Knuckles looked around surprised. The voice sounded female. "He was an amazing man and greatest warrior of our tribe and of the times. As his son to the twelfth power, I in turn am the greatest warrior of this time. I must ask you, did you send these dumb robots?" From behind the statue came an echidna of about eight. She looked just like the statue, minus the war clothes. Instead of those, she wore a pair of old cloth pants and bandages around her chest. Her fur had silvers, reds, and blacks all over with the black dominating. Although Knuckle hadn't made a big deal about it when he saw it, the statue didn't have pupils or irises. And neither did she.

The echidna threw a beaten E 20000 to Knuckles's feet. "They were a pain in the ass to the fourth power." She stood proudly and attempted to look down at Knuckles even though she was probably shorter than Cream. "So evildoer, do you wish to do battle with the mighty He-chidna, Darius?"

Knuckles looked at her and the snickered. "Okay, first off I'm not gonna fight a kid. Secondly I'm not going to hit a girl. And thirdly I don't have the time to hit a kid or a girl. You didn't happen to see a three tailed fox while you were dismantling that thing did you?"

"First off, this kid could kick your ass squared. Two, I won't take long to lay you out. And three I ain't a girl."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Just because you have a dude's name doesn't make you a full blown dude. C'mon Big we'll find Tails ourselves." Knuckles turned around and began to walk away.

"Oh so that's what that guy's name was…" Darius muttered just a little too loudly for it to be an accident. Knuckles stopped.

"You know where Tails is?" he asked.

"Sure do! But you'll have to beat the information out of me." Darius reached behind the statue and produced a buster blade. "Wanna try? I'll give you one try for every non-repeating decimal in 22 divided by 7."

"I don't need infinite trys I only need one!" Knuckles rushed at the girl full speed. Even with the bulky buster blade in hand she was able to jump over him and kick him in the back of the head. Knuckles stumbled and fell.

"Fool! 22 divided by 7 isn't Pi. You must be a woman, so idiotic and weak!" Darius laughed.

"You do know you just insulted yourself right?" Knuckles asked. Darius roared and ran at Knuckles.

_What have I gotten myself into?_

YAY! I want to apologize to my female readers now. And warn them. Darius bad mouths girls a lot, so just be ready. And there you have it! Chapter 8. I promise to try not to take this long ever again. Dez over and out!


	9. Chapter 9

So yeah. I'm updating nowzers. So yeah let's get it on!

Well, I can ponder robotic resurrection all I want now.

Sonic's breath came heavy as he struggled to dodge the constant barrage of energy beams, tornados, and tentacles that the multiple Chaoses sent at him. The work was nothing short of utterly exhausting. Even when Sonic managed to crush one, there was always more to take the fallen's place. Sonic could feel his energy waning, but he knew he couldn't stop now.

_But there are just so damn many!_

As yet another tentacle slammed into his chest, Sonic remembered what Tikal said. Chaos's mind, the little bit of Chaos that was always venerable, wasn't in these snow copies. But where could it be.

"Tikal," Sonic shouted, recovering from the blow. "Go up as high as you can." Sonic flew into the snow Chaos and discharged some energy, melting it.

"Why?" Tikal asked, already gaining altitude.

"Chaos is obviously controlling these things. But I'm pretty sure Chaos isn't psychic," Sonic yelled. He flew into an energy beam full speed, splitting it. "If he is controlling them, they're all gonna be connected somewhere."

Tikal's ball stopped for a moment. "When'd you figure all this out?"

"I didn't. A few months ago, me and Tails were talking and…" Sonic stopped. Tails. He hadn't heard from him or Knuckles in a while. It…it was Sonic's fault if Tails got hurt. If he'd known Chaos was just sitting tight right here…

"SONIC PAY ATTENTION!" Tikal's voice pierced Sonic's eardrums and brought his mind back to the task at hand. Sonic dodged another tentacle that almost smacked him in the head with a Matrix style bend in mid air. Sonic followed the tentacle back to its owner and proceeded to create an energy tornado around it. Melted.

"Sonic I do see a little something! I don't see a definite path, but a lot of Chaoses are just guarding a section of mountain. It could be worth a try," Tikal returned to Sonic's side, then started off in the direction of the cave. Sonic, revitalized by the idea of not fighting an endless fight, followed Tikal. The other snow Chaos attempted to give chase, but not only was Sonic much faster than them, they were extremely slow.

"Well that is to be expected. Chaos is used to being fluid, so these new solid forms must be difficult for him to master." Tikal muttered. Sonic ignored her.

"So, how many Chaoses are we talking?" Sonic asked. He could see the mountain Tikal had seen from above in the distance.

"About twenty, but I'm sure you can handle that little handful. But I can't say what you should expect going in there. Chaos is…" Tikal trailed off as they reached the mountain. The Chaos spotted them immediately and fired energy beams at Sonic. Sonic, not feeling up to the challenge of taking out the Chaos, closed his eyes and disappeared. The Chaos, believing Sonic dead, lowered their guards and returned to their normal patrols. One Chaos in particular didn't move at all, but the others went on as if that Chaos didn't exist. When all the other Chaos had gone, this particular Chaos melted, revealing Super Sonic floating in his place, smiling triumphantly. He landed, dropping his power until he was back in his normal form...

"That was brilliant Sonic!" Tikal exclaimed. Sonic smiled and brushed some snow off of his fur.

"It was nothing. Come on, let's go get Chaos." Sonic walked towards a small opening in the mountain and went inside. Sonic walked down the frozen corridor with Tikal at his side for a good ten minutes until they came upon a vast chamber. The chamber, with its high ceiling and ice frozen on the walls, was empty, save for a pedestal of ice in the far side of the room. On it, sat the physical mind of Chaos.

"Money," laughed Sonic. "Almost done." Sonic had begun to walk towards Chaos when the room began to shake. Sonic stopped. From other entrances to the chamber, snow flowed in and coiled around Chaos's mind. The snow piled higher and higher until a snow Chaos was formed.

"Aww, you did this trick already. Boo!" Sonic sped towards Chaos and leapt. He curled into a ball and hit Chaos. But he stopped not even an inch into him. Sonic pushed off of Chaos and landed a few meters back.

"What the-"Sonic was cut off when Chaos roared. The sound shook off some snow, revealing solid ice. Chaos roared again, removing all of the snow.

"Tikal…" Sonic whispered.

"I have no damn clue."

***

Knuckles dodged another of Darius's bone smashing blows and went for an uppercut. The fight was taking its toll on Knuckles; although Darius hadn't hit him directly with his buster blade, large chucks of debris had hit him. One wasn't painful, but the effects stacked up. Knuckles delivered the uppercut, but just like all of his other attacks it landed, but seemed to have no effect on the girl. Knuckles leapt back and tried to thick out his next attack.

"Backing away? What sort of man backs off from a challenge?" the echidna asked smugly. She put the end of her buster blade on the ground and laughed.

"Like I'd run away from a little girl," Knuckles replied. Darius clenched her teeth and charged Knuckles. Knuckles concentrated and let flames form around his fists. He readied to dodge the coming blow.

"You want me to tell her Froggy?" Big muttered.

Knuckles predicted her strike from her stance: a Z shaped attack meant to take out the head, chest, or legs. The attack came from the right. Knuckles ducked low and to the left and went in to what was probably another fruitless assault.

"Ms. Echidna!" Big shouted, "Froggy thinks you're really pretty!"

"Huh?" Darius stopped mid slash. Knuckles however finished his punch, right into Darius's chest. Darius flew backward, something Knuckles most definitely wasn't expecting. She didn't fall over, but it was obvious from the two small holes in her chest that the punch had done some damage. Darius felt the wound and cringed.

"Dammit, lost 97.2 percent of my maji flow." She whispered to herself. She closed her eyes and Knuckles thought he saw a blue shimmer flow over her body.

_Maji huh? Knew a kid couldn't be that tough._

"Alright, ready for an ass kicking for real? I'll kick it cubed if you want," Darius smirked.

"Nah, I don't surrender to little girls," Knuckles taunted. He rushed at Darius.

_At least she's not invincible…_

***

Cream sat on the neck of the massive congregation of energy that made up the body of this golden Metal. She looked down and saw that they were still above the clouds, thousands of feet in the air. Still, Cream was warm. She rested her head on Metal's glowing neck and almost drifted into sleep. But before she did she said, "Thank you Metal. I knew there was good in you." A rough metallic screeching pierced the air and killed any wish that Cream had to sleep. She looked around frantically before she realized it was Metal laughing.

"I apologize for laughing. Just the idea of me having some sort of goodness is hilarious." Metal chuckled softly.

"But you do! You came and saved me!" Cream exclaimed.

"It was my mission. Simply to protect you. None more and none less," Metal said in his cold robotic voice. Cream was silent for a while.

"But back there you said you didn't kill Robotnik because you didn't think I would like it. That has absolutely nothing to do with protecting me," Cream replied.

"Just a choice I made."

"I thought robots couldn't just make choices."

"Well-" Metal stopped. Cream waited for him to answer, but he seemed to be locked in thought. She let him think for awhile, rubbing what little bit of his head she could reach to…help.

"If you can choose to have mercy, you can choose to be good too," Cream whispered to him. Metal flew in silence.

"I suppose I must have something akin to free will. I would like to test this…will…now if you don't mind."

"I don't" Cream answered. Cream felt the entirety of Metal's aura body shiver. Then the roar of Metal's laughter pierced the air. Cream sat puzzled.

"What happened?" Cream asked.

"I SHIVERED!" Metal roared. "A machine is designed to do all of its tasks with accuracy and efficiency. I just wasted energy without a cause! I shivered!" Metal laughed again. Cream looked at Metal. She felt so happy for him and sad too.

"Is this really the first time you've done anything without someone telling you to do it?" Cream asked him.

Metal considered the question. "Not exactly. I make many decisions daily, but they all are for the quick forwarding of whatever mission I am assigned to. But this is the first time I have set my mind on something with no ties whatsoever to the mission and then actually done it!"

"Oh," Cream said. "That's so sad."

"What do you mean?" Metal inquired. Before Cream could explain herself, two missiles zoomed past Metal, taking Cream's breath away. She looked behind her. The Flying Battery, along with a fleet of smaller ships, was following them. Metal roared and flapped his wings hard, gaining speed.

"Metal! Why aren't you fighting them?" Cream shouted.

"And risk your safety!? I think not!" Metal flew in strange patterns, trying to avoid the missiles and lasers directed at him. Cream held her face to Metal's neck and began to cry.

"Don't cry Cream," Metal's childlike voice said. "I'll protect you."

Ok I took more than a week but whatever. It's here ain't it? I'll try to be a little more regular from now on. Till we meet again!


	10. Chapter 10

_Woah! When was the last time I updated? Well, Sorry for taking more than half a year :P. But I promise for real now to update more (at least once a month) as to not mislead yall into thinking I__'__ve abandoned this story. Well, Tally__'__ho!_

I mean, I have so much time on my hands now.

Sonic really had no idea what to do next. The solid shape Chaos had taken seemed invulnerable to anything he could throw at it. Tikal's ball even was at some sort of risk; whenever Chaos shot an energy beam that hit the ball, Tikal cried out in pain of some sort.

"Really Tikal, you've never seen this? You've been with Chaos for thousands of years!" Sonic dodged another barrage of tornados sent his way before closing on Chaos for another full on bash.

"There've never been reports of Chaos being so solid. It's not horribly farfetched, but….I don't' know," Tikal too, now that she was in real danger, dodged Chaos's attacks.

"Wonderful…" Sonic flew to Chaos's base and began circling as fast as he could. The air around Chaos grew hot and began to form itself into a twister. The twister grew over Chaos's body, now beginning to flame up. Chaos eyed the flames, and simply glided through them, no harm done. Sonic stopped and landed, this new effort atop the others exasperating him. He leaned against a clammy stone wall and just breathed. "Tikal, I can't just keep wasting energy like this. I'm gonna end up falling out of Super form at this rate."

Tikal, who'd been distracting Chaos by flying around his field of vision, hid and said, "I know, but the only way I know to get Chaos to weaken is to break his concentration. And…"

"To do that I have to break through a couple meters of ice and hit his brain. We tried that already!" Sonic summoned up the strength for another go at Chaos and launched himself at the middle of Chaos. Once again, Sonic just bounced off. He landed on a wall and tried to push off, but as soon as he'd gathered the energy it evaporated. The rush of power ended like some sort of extreme sugar rush and Sonic crashed. He fell from the wall, spines turning blue and eyes turning red. Sonic's eye's shut before he even hit the ground and he was unconscious.

***

The fight had been going quite well for Knuckles now that he'd discovered Darius's weakness. Although she could smash stone with her sword and was seemingly invincible, if she got distracted her strength failed her and she was open to attack. And, as Big had shown him, the easiest way to break her concentration was to appeal to her feminine side.

"C'mon Darius, I know you can do better than that!" Knuckles landed blow after blow on Darius, who almost seemed to not care about Knuckles, but about proving her manhood to a frog. Darius eventually dodged a punch and pushed Knuckles back. She then turned back to Froggy.

"I'll give you to the count of radical nine to take back your insults frog!"

"But they weren't insults!" Big said defensively. "All Froggy said was that your hair looked shiny even though it's so dark." Darius frowned at the frog.

"How do you even know what it's saying? It's a damn frog for crying out loud. It can't talk!"

"Froggy talks to me…" Right before Darius was about to yell more at the logic-less cat, Knuckles came at her from behind with a well aimed and powerful fire punch. Darius stood almost perfectly straight for a moment, then collapsed. Knuckles stood over her, smiling.

"Well, looks like I won. Wanna tell me where tails is now little girl?" He rolled Darius onto her back and discovered she was out cold. Knuckles laughed, before he realized she'd never told them where Tails was. "God dammit…" Knuckles looked down at Darius again. She was out pretty good…

"Ok Big, can I trust you not to be a total moron?"

"I dunno…That already sounds hard…" Knuckles face palmed before recomposing himself.

"Ok, this temple feels safe enough now that she's off in dreamland. Do you think you can go and find Tails? I need to go get the Master Emerald and get Chaos back into it."

"OoooKay…" Big muttered in his unintelligent monotone.

"Just listen to Tails when you find him alright? He'll be smart enough to know what to do next," Knuckles headed out of the Temple, leaving Big alone. Froggy climbed p Big's shoulder and croaked in his ear.

"If you say so…" Big went to Darius's unconscious body and lifted her up onto his other shoulder and headed deeper into the temple.

***

The lasers and rockets from the Flying Battery continuously battered Metal's Glowing surface despite his efforts to evade them. Every time one hit, he shook violently, scaring Cream. This enraged Metal, pushing him even harder to go faster and spin swifter. Metal could feel, even though he could not see, Robotnik's eyes on him, rooting for his failure.

Metal gently wrapped Cream in an energy tendril and gripped her firmly. He proceeded to flip on his back and fire an energy bolt at the Flying Battery. It connected, taking a chunk of the Battery and it went. Metal flipped back onto his stomach and replaced Cream on his neck.

"I thought you said you weren't going to fight," she said, although she didn't seem too broken up about Metal's counterattack.

"Things change. It was for your happiness." Metal's deeper voice said to Cream. "I will protect you," echoed his childlike voice.

"If you say so," Cram said, letting her head rest on the warmth of Metal. She felt so at peace, despite the roaring missiles and blasting lasers. She stroked Metal's neck, thinking back to the time she'd seen him at Station Square. He couldn't speak back then, but she'd done enough talking for the both of them. She wondered if after all of this if they could do that again. It wasn't like Robotnik would take Metal back after this, and Metal wouldn't have anywhere else to go. It'd be so much fun…Her, and Metal, and Momma and…

Cream's thoughts were interrupted by a massive shock. The Flying Battery's main cannon had hit Metal directly and he was going down. Cream looked down past Metal's head and saw they were heading straight for a lava covered mountain. She yelped and hugged Metal's neck. A sensation of warmth trickled down her legs.

"Don't worry…" Metal purposely turned into a nose dive and headed right for the lava. "…I'll protect you."

Well, there it is. It's kinda short, but it was needed to set up bigger things next chapter :P till then (No, then isn't June)


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